Lord Ashcroft is probably feeling a bit unloved at the moment. His relationship with the Conservative party and the Prime Minister is finished forever I guess.
While I was walking into London this week I stopped to look at the memorial to Bomber Command, in Green Park near Hyde Park Corner. It is an imposing structure predominantly in Portland Stone.
A curious feature is that there are no fewer than five stones engraved to mark its construction. The Queen and The Duke of Gloucester laid one each, Lord Ashcroft as a “principal benefactor” laid one and John Caudwell, also a principal benefactor, laid two. The second is not obvious and it may amuse you to try and spot it. John Caudwell gave £2 million to the project and Lord Ashcroft half that so he deserves his extra stone. Also, Caudwell, unlike Ashcroft, lays claim to be the biggest individual taxpayer in the UK. However, we do have something to thank Ashcroft for.